Other Perspectives
by cheeriogirl
Summary: Take a look at Hogwarts through the perspectives of James and Lily. A story of their coming of age. Not your typical LJ fic (avoiding LJ cliches). R&R please!
1. Chapter 1: James

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter One**

James

It was 2 AM and James Potter was getting impatient. He had been standing in the Charm's corridor for over a half an hour waiting for his friend Sirius Black to show up. _If Sirius doesn't show up soon, I'm going to bed_ he thought to himself. This wasn't like Sirius, to keep him waiting like this. They were frequent rule-breakers and "midnight wanderers" as they sometimes referred to themselves as, and part of the reason behind their success was the fact that they all worked together so well. They being, James Potter, his loyal (but LATE) best friend Sirius Black and their other two comrades Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew.

Long ago (first year that is), they had decided that they would be the supreme rule-breakers of Hogwarts. It was the 70's after all and rebellion was **in**. And James and Sirius especially, had taken their rebellion to heart and almost lived by it. This was their #1 rule in their "Rule-breaker's Handbook" (no such document actually existed but the ideas were embedded in all of their brains all the same). The most logical way to go about this of course, and as any military leader will tell you, is to know your territory. They had therefore embarked on a quest to be the most knowledgeable inhabitants of Hogwarts by knowing Hogwarts better than any other student or faculty member.

For the past three years, almost three nights a week, **every** week, and with the extensive use of James' invisibility cloak, they had been mapping the school. Their ultimate plan was to have the entire interior of Hogwarts, as well as the grounds, mapped by the end of their fifth year. The interior mapping could be easily achieved with the help of the invisibility cloak, but the exterior had posed a problem to them since outdoors was a whole different scenario. Almost by luck they had made the discovery of Remus' lycanthropy. The solution to help Remus had, luckily enough, also served as a means for them to do this exterior mapping and that solution was to become animagi. This was another of their big endeavors and , with James and Sirius' brilliance, it would soon pay off. As animals they would be free to explore the Hogwarts grounds at their leisure. But now, since they hadn't reached that point, they were confining themselves to the castle.

That was why James was standing in the Charms corridor at 2 in the morning waiting for his best friend to show up. They had planned on exploring this part of the school tonight, looking for secret passageways out of the school. He was positive that Sirius had said he would meet him there. James was just about to leave when he heard footsteps coming his way. Suddenly he was face-to-face with Sirius Black.

"What the hell?" James began but was cut off as Sirius grabbed his arm and led him away without any explanation. "Sirius? What?" He noticed that Sirius could barely seem to contain himself, he was so excited, but he had yet to say a word. "Oh Sirius?"

"James just shut up for a minute! You will not believe what I found!" Sirius whispered excitedly. Suddenly James forgot his exasperation with Sirius.

"What? What'd you find?" James was suddenly very excited. Whenever they made huge discoveries they would consider it proof that they were indeed fulfilling their goals as rebels.

"This, my friend, is possibly one of the greatest finds we've made thus far," Sirius replied. James noted his use of "we" when it had, in fact, been Sirius who discovered this new thing. It was just an affirmation of how much they considered themselves an entity that they used "we" even when they were referring to themselves singularly.

"Better than the kitchens, Sirius?"

Sirius scoffed, "Ha! The kitchen discovery is nothing once you see this!" Sirius' excitement was contagious. James could barely contain his own now.

"Sirius, are we going in circles?" James exclaimed as he noticed that they had passed that same painting only a little while ago.

"Shhhh. Just trust me."

They seemed to go around in a circle one more time, when finally, Sirius made an abrupt stop in front of a door. James couldn't help but notice that he hadn't payed any attention to the fact that there was a door there in the first place. Sirius paused and turned to James.

"I was late because I had to test it to make sure it worked. Be prepared to be amazed." Sirius opened the door. They stepped into a very well lit room. There was tables of food and drink on one side, surrounded by four chairs. On the other was a bookshelf. James wandered over to the bookshelf and was surprised when he saw the titles of some of the books. "A Beginner's Guide to Animagi," "A Rebel's Handbook," and " The Art of Mapmaking" were only some of the titles he saw. He turned to Sirius who was now stuffing his face with food from the tables.

"What exactly is this place?"

"I'm not positive, but what I do know is that I was strolling around mindlessly (since back then I had a lot more time to spare before I had to meet up with you) and I was thinking how much I wanted to eat, and all of a sudden I notice that there's a door there that I never noticed. I went in and I had a table full of food. Those," he pointed towards the books, "weren't there last time. You must have wished them there."

"Wait, what? So you just wished this room into existence?" James could barely believe it.

"Yeah. I tried it out again. It works!"

"Sirius, wait till we tell Remus and Peter! They won't believe this. Imagine what we could do here! We could start having meetings here instead of the dorm and not have to worry about Mike and Will overhearing us. This is amazing." James started to help himself to some cake, fully savoring this new experience.

"No, better yet, think of the girls we could bring here! Totally private, no one else knows, it'd be great!" Sirius gave him his mischievous look.

"Sirius! What did we say about exposing our secrets to others? No, you can't bring girls here. This has to stay between us." James commanded.

"What about blindfolded?"

"No. This is our secret. Just think of the things we can do!"

"So you'll forgive me for being late?" Sirius smiled, falsely sweet.

"Don't push it."

James was dozing off. He was in History of Magic, and due to last night's events and their late return to the dorm, he could barely keep his eyes open. Not that he usually could in History of Magic, even on nights that he got a lot of sleep.

He thought of Remus and Peter's reactions last night. They had both been sleeping when they got back to the dorm. Remus, because he had been recovering from the full moon and Peter because, well Peter was a child when it came to "bed time," he couldn't keep his eyes open past 10:30. They had thought that the occasion was important enough to merit waking them up though. Peter had said "cool" and went back to bed. Remus initially seemed skeptical then insisted on further exploring the room before they could jump to conclusions.

Remus, always the logical one. Most of their pranks wouldn't have occurred or even been successful if it hadn't been for Remus' cool and rational thinking. In fact, most of their pranks wouldn't have been possible if even a single one of them had been missing, since they each brought something important to the table. Remus, the rational one, the one who could always see the flaws in plans five steps ahead of everyone else. Peter, with his innocent, childish face, was usually in charge of the decoys and distractions: no one ever suspected Peter of any wrong doing. And Sirius, with his daredevil attitude towards everything. Sirius seemed fearless, nothing could stop him and his daring and quick thinking were responsible for some of the infamousness that people associated with them and their pranks. James was really the "idea" person. He was good at hatching weird, interesting plots. Many of the pranks they pulled were usually the result of a brainstorm James would have in the middle of taking an exam or a bath. Ideas would just occur to him randomly and they never lacked originality.

Currently James was giving his mind a break from the strain of thinking about anything though. _Oh Merlin, when is this going to end?_

Suddenly his eyes caught a glimmer of red and he suddenly found something to keep his eyes busy and prevent them from drooping shut. Three guesses where the red was coming from? _Lily Evans_. It wasn't hard for James to focus his attention on her since she wasn't exactly hard on the eyes. In fact, in James' opinion she was gorgeous. She was sitting in a desk one row in front of him on the right side, so he had a good view. She was currently twirling a piece of her hair around her finger, also looking as though she were not paying close attention to Binns.

James stared at her hair for a moment. According to Sirius, James was infatuated with Lily, but James did not wholly agree with this assessment. James just liked the way she looked. At least that's what he told himself.

He had met her long ago, before Hogwarts. It was a long story and James didn't always like to think about it because it brought back memories of his early childhood; people and places he didn't want to think about anymore. But back then Lily was this little thing with red hair and a smile, who just wanted to know everything! James had effectively introduced her to the world of wizards. James smiled inwardly, back then she had been so cute and sweet. Now, most of the time she was just bitchy. That was part of the reason he claimed he did not actually like her. Just the way she looked.

Unlike James, who was popular and friends with everyone in the entire school (minus the Slytherins, of course) she was anti-social, with only a few friends (who happened to be James' other dorm-mates). She always stood behind her convictions, which sounded nice in theory, but when she was adamantly opposing something you said or did it wasn't always pleasant, and James had experienced this quite a few times from her. This year they mainly ignored each other, James doubted whether she had even spared him a thought this entire year, in fact, he doubted they'd even spoke two words to each other throughout the entire year.

Back when they were younger they simply adored each other. But when Hogwarts had started and the social divides started happening, they shifted away from each other. During first year, girls were still a little yucky so James distanced himself from Lily, which he supposed did not endear him to her very much and very well may have been the largest contributing factor in the demise of their friendship. After first year they seemed to just grow further apart and less fond of each other. So they weren't exactly on the best terms with one another, but they weren't enemies. No that title was reserved for Severus Snape, the Slytherin that he despised.

Only towards the end of last year had James really noticed how pretty Lily was. She was nothing like the other girls in his year; for one thing Lily did not look anywhere near as mature as the other girls. Lily was still flat-chested, no curves, and still looked like a child. Besides that, the other girls seemed to put some effort into their appearance, with make-up and stuff, but Lily never wore make-up or did anything special to her hair. James knew about such things, due to his twin sister, Carrie, who was obsessed with the way she looked.

Carrie shared a dorm with Lily and according to her, Lily was a rude bitch. James, though he agreed with this at times, thought Carrie was a bit biased considering the fact that she always seemed to be mad at Lily. Even back when they were children Carrie was not really very nice to Lily. Carrie had immediately picked up on the fact that her brother now seemed entranced by Lily, (it was a twin thing) and though she never discouraged him from pursuing her (like he even would!) she definitely did not have anything nice to say about Lily.

Sirius too, was a bit in the dark as to why Lily seemed to captivate his best friend so much. But after all, Sirius did not understand the concept of liking a girl. To him, girls were just "things you snogged in broom closets." James doubted whether Sirius had ever actually just had a plain, purely non-physical crush on a girl. "Sure she's pretty James, but come on, she looks like she's eleven.," was Sirius' usual response to James staring at Lily.

Remus was really the only one supportive of James' "thing" for Lily. But the only problem with that was that Remus always seemed to be hinting to that James'crush was more than what James was owning up to, which was: "I think she's pretty." Remus seemed to think that James actually _liked_ her, which of course was not true.

Suddenly something hit James on the back of his head. He turned around and found that Sirius had decided to shoot bits of parchment at him. Sirius smirked at him. "Enjoying the view?" he whispered. James rolled his eyes and turned back around to face the board. _Ugh. Another 20 minutes of this_. He resumed staring at Lily.


	2. Chapter 2: Lily

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

**Chapter Two**

Lily

Lily Evans had never considered herself neurotic. But lately she couldn't help but wonder if she really was. She should have known that taking two million different classes, half of them far more advanced than what she should have been taking, would make her perfectionism go into overdrive. She didn't even really understand what motivated her to take so many classes; sure she loved acquiring knowledge, in fact it what was one of her favorite activities, but she was also an incredibly logical person and usually could foresee consequences to her actions. The consequences being utter exhaustion.

Lily supposed it was just the Gryffindor in her. Wanting to prove something. But, as she considered this idea she realized that this wasn't it either. In fact, ironically, this had been her reasoning to McGonagall at the end of last year as to why she had to take so many advanced classes. She managed a half-hearted smile as she recalled the conversation.

"Ms Evans, though I realize that you are an excellent student, I do not understand why you feel that Advanced Arithmancy, or any of the other classes you have chosen, are appropriate classes for a fourth year student. I assure you, you will have plenty of time to pursue them later on," McGonagall paused and surveyed Lily over her spectacles. Lily could barely suppress a sigh of frustration. It seemed that McGonagall was not budging. Lily had realized that it was time for major bull-shitting. Lily cleared her throat and began.

"Professor, as you may realize, I am one of the only muggleborns in my year. I am sure I do not have to tell you how much harder it is for us to prove ourselves as legitimate wizards than the other pure-bloods. I am _prepared_ to take on greater challenges, so this isn't an unrealistic request. After Hogwarts, do you realize how much harder it will be for me to get a job? Even with my grades, there is too much tension about blood to make things easy for me. I have to do the best and most I can in order to succeed." Lily stopped. She wondered how much more of this McGonagall would be able to stomach. She, herself, was trying hard to prevent herself from gagging. She had decided long ago that anything she set her mind to, she would get. It was simply the way she was raised. So all this garbage she was spooning to McGonagall was just utter nonsense. Surprisingly, McGonagall looked as though she were considering it.

"The final word rests with Professor Dumbledore, Ms Evans," she said finally.

Lily had ended up going to see Professor Dumbledore. This time she hesitated before giving Dumbledore her BS story. Dumbledore was not McGonagall and could probably see through her motives better than she herself could. This was not surprising considering she had no idea why she had such a strong need to take advanced classes. But she decided to be more straightforward with Dumbledore. She owned up to being frustrated with the pace of the classes she was in with the other third years. In so little words she managed to get across that she thought that the other students were stupid, and that she needed something more challenging. Dumbledore had been supportive and had worked out a compromise with her: she would take all the "regular" classes (Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, etc) with the students in her year. Any other classes she chose would be at a higher level.

So she was currently preparing to take the Arithmancy OWLs one year early. As well as all of the other fun stuff she was doing. The odd thing was that Lily, nor anyone who knew Lily, would consider her an overachiever. She rarely put thought into assignments. She almost never participated in class. She never appeared to be doing work. To put it plainly, Lily was just smart. She just got things. The teachers had realized this and learned to leave her alone a long time ago. Lily just did things her own way and most people accepted that. Not that most people accepted Lily herself. She was just odd and people had a hard time understanding her.

In terms of social standings, a naive person would say that Lily was popular, since she was, in the sense of the word itself. Everyone knew who she was; she was a little hard to miss with her thick mane of red hair, in fact the only red-head girl in the entire school at the moment. A few people even liked her. But when it came to who was "popular" as in the "cool" kids that everyone wanted to be seen with: Lily most certainly was not one of those people.

Lily's position in school was always a subject of great interest to herself. Lily always had the overwhelming desire to understand the way things worked in order to best benefit herself. It wasn't that she was selfish, she was just incredibly ambitious. No wonder the Sorting Hat had labored over which house to put her in for so long. She had literally been on the stool for a full five minutes before it declared "GRYFFINDOR!" to the impatient hall.

After all Lily was a walking contradiction and half the time did not understand the reasons she did the things she did, only knowing that in some long-run sort of way it would benefit her. This was why she was a little disconcerted as to why her plan of taking a million advanced classes was not working: it seemed to be a gross miscalculation on her part. Instead of savoring the benefits of being far ahead of her peers, she only seemed to be stressed out. What assignment did she have to do tonight? How would she get to Advanced Ancient Runes in time if Potions was as far away from it as possible? Petty things that she had never considered or cared about before, now seemed to be huge.

And yet there seemed to be a security that came with taking all of these classes. She was learning so much. A lot of it seemed to hold no practical use. Why would she need to know about the evolution of Saxon runes? How could that ever possibly benefit her? But she believed that no piece of knowledge was useless. After all you never know what you'll need to know someday. That was what Lily told herself as she tried to calm herself down about her workload.

It suddenly seemed clear to Lily why her need to take advanced classes was so strong. Knowledge gave her a sense of security. This seemed odd to "discover" since it was seemingly so obvious, and yet it made sense. Lily sighed and rolled over. She was currently trying to fall back asleep. She had woken up at about 3:30 AM, a full two hours before she usually woke up (she was an early riser) and couldn't go back to sleep. She had been attempting to coax herself back to sleep but the ever-present study worries just plagued her mind.

But now, that she had come to a definitive conclusion regarding her motives she seemed to feel slightly better. She decided against trying to go back to sleep: it seemed futile now. Instead, she got up and quietly got dressed.

She was very careful not to wake anyone. Her other dorm-mates generally did not like Lily, and nor did she like them. She did not want to give them an excuse to complain about her some more. She could not understand how she could have possibly been stuck with the most obnoxious girls of her year, all in one room. She realized she was not being fair: not all of them were obnoxious. Well, atleast one of them was nice: Artemis Brown. Artemis was the only one of the girls who had never been deliberately rude to Lily. At times she even attempted some conversation, usually small talk, but all the same she was nice.

Lily decided this was because she was the only one of the girls whose name did not begin with a "C." The infamous C's. There were four of them and Lily could never decide which she disliked, no, hated the worst. Camilla, Charlotte, Catherine, or Claire. The four C's. They were Gryffindor's "it" girls. In fact, they were popular throughout the entire school. Artemis was friends with them (Lily could never understand why). Catherine (or Carrie as everyone called her) and Charlotte were childhood friends and usually stuck together. Artemis was best friends with Claire (who wasn't all that bad except for when she was around the others). And Camilla (Lily decided she was the worst), just lorded it over whoever she felt like. She was the current Minister of Magic's daughter, and this made her seem to think that she was equally as important as her father.

Lily did have to give them some credit though. At the beginning of first year they had attempted to be nice to her and pull her into their little group. But Lily, who had never really been friends with other girls before and was a little surprised at how clique-y and materialistic they were, was resistant to them and ended up being an itty-bit rude to them. So she supposed she had asked for their treatment, but still no one deserved to be ignored constantly.

If it weren't for the fact that Lily had other friends, she supposed her "dorm life" would have been a lot more intolerable. But luckily Lily had two best friends, who were also in Gryffindor but happened to reside in the Boy's dormitory. Michael Sullivan and William Gellar. Or Mike and Will. She used to call them "the other two Gryffindor boys" because of the friendship division between them and the other four boys in their dorm, who were all friends with each other. So in a way Lily, Mike, and Will were the "outcast" Gryffindors.

Lily would have been entirely satisfied with this title for them if it hadn't been for the fact that Mike was actually very popular (again, in the literal sense of the word). The thing about him was that he would talk to anybody. Social boundaries did not bother him. His sunny personality perfectly matched his sunshine blond hair. If anyone could have been the opposite of Mike, it was Will.

Lily had known Will much longer than Mike (which was another story in itself). Will was quiet and shy. He rarely spoke to anyone besides Mike and Lily. He was like a little kid. Unlike Mike, she regarded Will as a brother and looked out for him.

Her two best friends at the moment were most definitely sleeping and therefore could not keep her company in the common room where she had taken up an armchair near the window. Lily looked out of the window. It looked like it was going to rain, though the sun hadn't even come up yet. Lily enjoyed rain, but lately she had been craving a nice, sunny day to get her mind off her studies. Lily sat for another half an hour staring out of the window. She realized she was going to regret waking up so early around 1 o'clock in History of Magic when, no doubt, she'd start dozing off. Oh well. She'd deal with that at 1 o'clock.


	3. Chapter 3: Snogging and Embarrassments

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter Three**

Snogging and Embarrassments

Catherine Potter made her way back to the Gryffindor common room. She had just had a brilliant snog session with Rodolphus Lestrange, a sixth year Slytherin. It had ended with Professor McGonagall giving them each a detention. That had been the only bad part of the experience; she could barely suppress a shudder at the look on McGonagall's face. Not only did McGonagall give her the disapproving look reserved for snoggers, but she had genuinely looked shocked at Carrie's behaviour. Not that Carrie was in any way a "nice girl," it was just that snogging Slytherins wasn't something that most Gryffindor girls did, especially now with the tension between the two houses so high.

But that was part of the fun of it. She knew that it would make her brother mad. James hated Slytherins with a passion. If he found out that she had been in a broom closet with one for over a half an hour snogging, no telling what he'd do. Hell, if he found out she'd been with _any_ boy in a closet he'd freak out. He was incredibly protective of her. So rebelling against him always filled her with extreme satisfaction. That and the fact that Bellatrix Black had her eye on Rodolphus _forever_ and Carrie had snagged him away from her. Well, for the time being anyway.

Carrie had absolutely no plans to start dating him. He was by no means suitable boyfriend material. When it came to boyfriends, Carrie had very very high expectations. It was practically a little girl image of "the perfect guy": he would be handsome and romantic, totally sweeping her off her feet and treating her like a princess. Perhaps this explained why Carrie had never had many boyfriends (one to be exact). Either that, or James had scared them all away. Carrie's love life had comprised of secretive, meaningless snogs with boys whom she was simply attracted to, never actually liked. Rodolphus was one of these boys: he was hot, made even more attractive by the fact that he was her enemy's crush, but never the kind of boy she would consider dating.

Carrie sighed as she walked up to the Fat Lady's portrait. She attempted to straighten up her disheveled appearance a bit before she went in; she did not feel like a confrontation with James right now. Her long, black hair (which was similar to her brother's in color and texture, except for the fact that his stood up every which way, while her's lay flat and smooth) was all mussed up. She combed her fingers through it. She then began to adjust her robes and had only just noticed that her blouse was buttoned wrong, and was attempting to button it back up properly when the portrait door swung open. Sirius Black and Remus Lupin emerged from the common room, deep in conversation. They stopped at the sight of her. Carrie blushed when she realized that her shirt was halfway undone, and that they both seemed to be staring.

"Er... Hi boys!" She squeaked as she attempted to pull her robes over her shirt.

"Everything alright Carrie?" Remus finally managed after a long, awkward pause. Sirius said nothing, just looked at her with an odd expression on his face. _Damn_ she thought _now he's going to go blab to James_. Sirius told James everything and he was sure to tell him about his sister's suspiciously disheveled appearance. Remus she could trust, but not Sirius.

This was made ten times more embarrassing by the fact that she had had a huge crush on Sirius since she was seven years old. And now he was staring at her as if she were some stupid slut. She almost burst into tears on the spot, but gathered her strength and responded to Remus.

"I...I'm fine. I just noticed my shirt was buttoned wrong. I was trying to fix it," she managed lamely. They both looked slightly skeptical at this and she noticed that Remus was eyeing her neck._ Oh no. Did Rodolphus leave a mark there?_ she thought, her heart sinking. James would definitely get a report about this and now they both thought she was a liar on top of that. "Er, bye!" and she left as quickly as she could, still clutching her robe around her body.

As she rushed into the common room, she bumped right into Lily Evans. Once she realized who it was she snapped "Watch it, Bitch!" and scrambled upstairs to the girl's dormitory, leaving a red-faced Lily in the common room.

"Oh, Merlin! Char, you will not believe the afternoon I've had!" she exclaimed to her best friend Charlotte Lovegood, as she burst into the dormitory. Charlotte was lying lazily on her bed, flipping through an issue of _Witch Weekly_, but immediately straightened at Carrie's entrance.

"What?" She seemed to take note of her friend's appearance, then exclaimed "Carrie I told you Rodolphus was no good! What did he do?"

"No, no. That went fine. Except for when we were interrupted by McGonagall, of course." Charlotte gasped.

"Oh no, what'd she say? Detention?"

"Yeah. But that's not the worst part."

"There's more? What, did James find out?"

"Ugh, no! But he will!" Carrie went on to explain the situation with Sirius and Remus to Charlotte, who, like a good friend, gasped in all the right places and ended up consoling her.

"Don't worry Carrie, Remus'll probably tell Sirius to be quiet about it, you know how he hates for trouble to start. And Sirius was probably just ogling you anyway, he always does that to girls–"

"I wish! No, Char, he totally looked like he was going to be sick!"

"Well, no wonder! Your neck is covered in love bites, sweetie." Charlotte pointed, as Carrie groaned.

"Oh! I thought so. They were staring at it. I must look like a mess."

"Only a little."

"Sirius'll never like me now!"

"Well Carrie, he _is_ known to go after slutty girls, so maybe you have a bigger chance with him now!"

"Charlotte!"

"Just kidding!"

Their conversation was interrupted as Lily Evans walked in, rolling her eyes. Apparently she had heard some of it. As usual she went off towards her bed ignoring them. Carrie, feeling the need to take out her anger on someone, started in with Lily.

"What, Evans? Our conversation is too shallow for the likes of you?" she said, challenging Lily. Not that Lily ever really took the bait, but it seemed that this time she was.

"What would make you think that?" she asked, pseudo-innocently, as she rummaged through her trunk.

"Oh, don't give me that! You think you're better than all of us!" she said, unreasonably.

"You just never stop bitching, Potter do you? Leave me alone, and go back to telling the tragic story of your life!" Appearing to have retrieved what she needed from her trunk, Lily left without any further comments.

Carrie only recovered after Lily slammed the door. "Can you believe her! Why didn't I throw something at her! She just knows how to make my day more difficult!" she complained loudly. Charlotte nodded sympathetically. Charlotte also was not particularly fond of Evans, but no where near as much as Catherine, who seemed to dislike Evans from Day 1. As far as Charlotte knew, Carrie had met Lily long before Hogwarts even started, which was puzzling, considering that Lily was a muggleborn and most muggleborns had never ventured into the world of magic until their Hogwarts letter arrived. Lily seemed to be an exception. Charlotte had never quite heard the details of how they met, but she did know it was a sensitive topic for Carrie since it related to her mother, whom she never discussed.

"Oh, wait till Camilla hears about this. Imagine the nerve of that mu–" Carrie stopped. Charlotte knew what she had been about to say, and was surprised because Carrie usually never used the word. Carrie came from a family that frowned upon racism and any form of discrimination, and therefore never used words like "mudblood."

Charlotte did not show her slight surprise and responded, "Yeah, Camilla's been pissed off at Evans since that silencing charm incident." If anyone disliked Evans more than Carrie it was Camilla. Evans was really the only person able to stand up to Camilla, so of course Camilla took issue with her.

"Merlin, Char! What am I going to do when James confronts me! You know what he did last time? He freaked out when he found out I'd been kissing Albert Davies and I told him to mind his own freaking business, and he wrote to DAD! I don't know what he has against me being with other boys, I mean I don't interrogate him about his girlfriends! And of course Dad is on his side. Oh I think I'll skip dinner and stay up here, I don't want to deal with him."

For once in her life, Charlotte was thankful that the only sibling she had was a much younger brother who would, thankfully, enter Hogwarts safely after she left. She comforted her friend a little bit more, then went back to her _Witch Weekly_.

A/N: Thank you for reading, if you've made it this far. I hope you like it and don't forget to review on your way out! Let me know what you think of it. Thanks, Cheeriogirl.


	4. Chapter 4: Rainy Day Fun

A/N: Thanks to "**names are overrated**" for being my first reviewer!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter Four**

Rainy Day Fun

Lily rushed down to the ground floor. She found Will in front of the Great Hall, waiting for her. "Sorry I'm late, Catherine Potter held me up," she explained, breathing hard. They started walking down the corridor.

"Bullying again? Awww, poor Lily," he replied with a slight smile on his face. Lily punched him playfully on his arm.

"Ha! Me, bullied? Never!" Lily always prided herself on being headstrong.

"So, what'd you bring?" Will peered at the packages in Lily's arms.

"Watercolors, I think they'll look best." Will nodded at this, and held open the door for her as they arrived in their "special room." It was basically a drafty room, one corridor down from the Great Hall that had a lovely view of the grounds. Today it was raining and Will had decided it was a perfect day for artwork. This was one of Lily and Will's many "bonding" activities. They always came to their special room for it.

"Those better be the kind that change brightness," Will commented as Lily removed the watercolors from their box.

"Of course William! What, did you think we would be using the muggle kind?" Lily smiled at him. She loved to indulge him. At times she felt that she was his like his mother, other times, his sister. But most of the time he was just her companion. He had been for the better part of her life. William just smiled back at her.

He had such an angelic face, with his bright blue eyes and innocent smile. Lily couldn't help but wonder why girls never paid him any attention, but she supposed with "sexy, rebellious" Sirius Black, and "popular and athletic" James Potter around, who could possibly pry their eyes away, and look at cute, innocent, little William Gellar instead?

They sat down together and began on their respective paintings, silently. They did not need to fill the silences, simply because they were comfortable enough in each other's presences not to mind when things suddenly got very quiet. On the other hand, if Mike had been in the room, there would have been no such thing as peaceful, silent moments, since Mike just never shut up. He was always on about something.

Michael Sullivan added something interesting to the "Lily-Will" dynamic. Lily had known Will from way before Hogwarts even started, and, unlike James Potter whom she was also friends with before Hogwarts, she remained close friends with Will. Will had become her best friend in the entire world. He would accompany her on her summer holidays to France and write to her whenever she was away (he learned to use muggle post just for her).

They had the type of relationship that just balanced itself out. Will was extremely subdued and shy for the most part, while Lily was always incredibly outspoken and confident. Their qualities rubbed off on each other so that Lily made Will slightly more outgoing while Will could tone Lily down a bit. As children, they would spend long afternoons together reading or drawing. Lily taught Will about her love of literature and music, while Will got Lily into the world of art. Lily supposed it was this easy transfer of interests that made their friendship so strong.

When Lily met Mike on the Hogwarts express at the beginning of first year, she had befriended him immediately since, like her, he was a muggleborn, and loud. Also he had the incredible ability to "tell it like it was", which Lily admired. At first, Mike and Will had been wary of each other: they were such opposites, both personality-wise as well as appearance-wise. Will had dark brown hair that curled around his ears, bright blue eyes, and really pale skin (the result of a disdain of "outdoors-y"activities, such as Quidditch). Mike, on the other hand, looked like he was born in the outdoors, with his incredibly tan skin and bright, blond hair. He also had a much easier time smiling than Will did. Eventually they opened up to each other and Lily was happy that at least Will had one friend who was a boy.

Together, they made an interesting mix. Today, though was Lily and Will time. They got these moments to themselves whenever Mike had his latest girlfriend or "snog partner" as he sometimes referred to them as.

"Finished!" Will showed Lily his watercolor which had come out beautiful (as usual). He had managed to make the dreary, wet day outside look almost magical and surrealistic. Lily's, in contrast, was much more realistic (and boring).

"You're getting really good with the watercolors, Will!"

"Thanks." And he smiled modestly, waiting for her to finish her painting.

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"Sirius, what's wrong? You've been distracted this entire time." James said, not noticing the looks Remus was throwing Sirius behind his back.

"Er, nothing James." And Sirius went back to flipping through the animagi book he was reading. James took note of Sirius's tone and let it go, deciding to ask him later. They were currently in the room of requirement (already utilizing their new-found tool) reading up on animagi. Remus had warned Sirius before coming that he was not to mention a word about Carrie's appearance to James. Remus knew it would only cause problems between the siblings.

Sirius was in two minds about telling James. Contrary to what many thought, Sirius did **not** tell James everything (most things, yes, but not everything). This wasn't the reason he really felt the need to inform his best friend of his sister's shenanigans. It was more of the fact that he knew James would make an attempt to stop it. For some reason seeing Carrie looking as though she'd just walked out of a broom closet really bothered Sirius. He had known Carrie for as long as he'd known James and though he never really hung out with her as children (or now even) he still felt the urge to protect her. He told himself this was because he practically thought of Carrie as his own sister but he knew this was a lie, since what kind of a brother ogles their sister when she's half naked? Sirius quickly repressed that thought and the image that came with it. If any girl was off-limits it was Catherine Potter. James, being the overprotective bastard that he was, would have a heart attack if he knew that the school's resident "connoisseur of women" (namely Sirius) was after his sister. It wasn't worth it.

"Sirius, did you hear me?" James interrupted Sirius' thoughts.

"Sorry, no."

"I think we should definitely try this spell before we do the transformation, so that nothing comes as a surprise."

"Er...what spell?"

"Sirius, weren't you listening to a word I said? The spell where we can see what our animagus forms will be, before we even become animagi," James responded, slightly exasperated.

"Yeah, definitely! That'd be really cool. I wonder what we'll each be, eh?"

"I bet you'll be something cool, Sirius," Peter said, eternally sucking up.

"It's times like these that I wish I was actually going through the transformations with you, but then again I have my own to deal with," Remus responded grimly.

"Well at least you don't have to worry about the risk that you'll be permanently messed up! But it will be pretty amazing once we pull it off. I wonder what I'll be?" Sirius thought aloud. "I bet James will be something like a lion, a true Gryffindor at heart!"

"Nah, James isn't fiery enough to be a lion. Something a little calmer," said Remus. "And I bet you'll be something really playful, eh Sirius?"

"Yeah! Imagine one of us ends up being something really lame like a butterfly, huh? That'd be no help at all!"

"That would also be highly disturbing. Are you sure you're telling us everything about yourself Peter?" Remus asked in mock seriousness.

Peter smiled weakly. Even though they were joking about it now, he just _knew_ that he was going to end up being something stupid, that would most certainly pale in comparison to whatever it was Sirius and James would end up being. He almost didn't want to know.

"So basically we each have to learn to produce a Patronus charm," James was explaining.

"What was that again?" Peter asked hesitantly.

"Honestly, Pete, do you _ever_ pay attention in class?" Sirius asked.

"The pot said to the kettle," Remus whispered comically.

"Are you lot done?" James said, getting impatient.

"Sorry Professor McGonagall, sir,"Sirius said, saluting James. James sighed and continued.

"Well anyway, the Patronus charm is meant to ward off dementors, but the form it takes also represents your animagus shape. So if you want a preview of what yours will be you simply produce a patronus and you know what it is."

"Right, simple!" Remus laughed.

"What?"

"That's extremely advanced magic James, it's not that easy." Remus' logic was kicking in.

"Are we, or are we not also attempting to become animagi Remus? Seriously, that's got to top any stupid little charm!" James argued, undaunted and determined that his plan would work.

"Whatever you say James. All I'm saying is that it will involve some work."

"Alright fine, you're right," James relented.

This was the usual format of prank-planning, etc. Remus bringing up the logical (sometimes discouraging) facts and James, being the headstrong, stubborn boy that he was, rejecting them, determined that they could do anything.

"Okay, so tonight we look into the Patronus charm and we'll start prepping for it." James commanded. Everyone else nodded. Though Remus wasn't actually a part of the transformations, he always helped with research and work related to them (after all, they were doing it for him).

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"Alright, Sirius, what is this all about?" James pulled Sirius aside later.

"What is what all about James?" asked Sirius, playing stupid.

"Come on Sirius, we've been friends since we were babies, I can definitely tell when you're in a mood. Is it something to do with your mum?" Sirius frowned. He most definitely did not want to think about that now, and hated when the subject was brought up.

"No, not that."

"Then what?"Sirius decided to ignore Remus' warning, James _should_ know after all.

"Um, it has to do with Catherine." James frowned.

"What about her?"

"Er..." Sirius did not know how to go about telling James that his sister was acting like a slut nicely, but decided to try it tactfully. "...why don't you go look at her neck?"

It took James a moment to process what that meant, but when he did his eyes narrowed. "Not again! I don't know what to do with her, I mean doesn't she even think about her reputation at all? How does she ever expect anyone to respect her if she keeps going around throwing herself at every bloke in the school? Honestly, Sirius, you know what we think of girls like Claire, imagine everyone thinking that about my sister?" Sirius nodded along sympathetically. He'd done it, now it was up to James to get her to stop.

"I need to go speak to her!" James got up. If there was one quality James did not like in a girl it was when she disregarded her own self-respect and dignity. James was very big on honour, and it drove him crazy when his own sister forgot about it. Perhaps this was why James only looked at girls like Lily Evans (who had too much self-respect for her own good). Girls like Lily didn't walk around the school displaying their love bites for everyone to see. He shook Lily out of his head and focused on finding his sister. She was definitely getting a lecture from him.

A/N 2: To Alex Sakura (thanks for reviewing), sorry about all the descriptivness, but I really needed to put in some background info (like Lily with her friends). I'll try to distribute it more evenly from now on though.

Cheeriogirl


	5. Chapter 5: Divination and Fantasies

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. 

**Chapter Five**

Divination and Fantasies

This is stupid Lily was thinking as she listened to Professor Grimm's long-winded lecture on prophecies. Why did I take this stupid class? No one takes it seriously anyway. She could hear the hushed whispers of the people in the back who were obviously not listening to Grimm's lecture.

She turned to Will and rolled her eyes at him. He managed a small smile and went back to doodling on his parchment. Mike was sleeping on a cushion he had propped up on the table, with his hair all over the place. Since her friends were obviously not providing her with distractions she turned her attention to the rest of the class. The usual cliques were grouped in the back, except for the Potter twins who had taken up a table of their own and were whispering furiously at each other. Lily watched them with interest for a moment. Then turned back to her parchment, not wanting to be caught staring at either of them.

Mike jerked awake suddenly as Grimm approached their table, still going on about her psycho prophecy babble. "...the medium through which we will be exploring prophecies today are incense burners. Can anyone tell me how an incense burner can be used to make a prophesy?" She looked around at the restless class. She suddenly seemed to notice the Potter's lack of attention. "Mr. Potter, if you'd be so kind, I'd like you to move up here where I can be sure that you will not interrupt my class." James glared at her and gathered his belongings, shooting a look at his sister as if to say that their conversation was not done.

Lily smirked until the realization hit her that "up here" meant her table. She groaned inwardly at the thought of tolerating Potter for a whole class period. He sat down opposite her, avoiding her eyes. Grimm continued, "Well?... Did anyone do last night's reading?" she sighed, "Very well... The art of burning incense involves the interpretation of smoke and achieving the unique trance-like quality that will allow you to fully..." Lily began to space out again. She really didn't care about this. She turned her attention back to Potter who, she realized, was staring at her too. She glowered at him and he turned his head away, almost embarrassed. Mike nudged her and grinned sleepily. Nothing ever got by him. Will, meanwhile was still entranced by his drawing.

At this point Grimm had begun distributing incense to each table. Lily immediately began depositing the incense herbs into the miniature pan and lit a fire under it. The smoke began to appear. For a moment she just stared at it then abandoned the idea of even trying and sat back on her cushion. This was just too stupid. The rest of her group members weren't even paying attention.

Mike was examining the small satchel of herbs, "Do you think we could smoke this crap?" Lily who was accustomed to these types of stupid questions didn't even bat an eyelash.

James looked at him oddly, "Yeah and die," he replied, rolling his eyes at Mike. He turned back to the smoke, looking as though he was actually studying the smoke patterns.

"You're actually taking this shit seriously?" Lily asked bluntly.

"Why not Evans? It's a class isn't it, I thought you loved class?" he said, mocking her, as he continued to record the smoke patterns.

"Because it's a load of rubbish is why. You actually think staring at that stupid smoke is going to tell you whether you'll be Minister of Magic or when you'll die or whatever? It won't! None of this is real, it's just people bull shitting their way around lucky guesses."

"Come on Lily, let him do the stupid assignment, it's not that big of a deal," Mike said, still examining the contents of the satchel, not sounding as if he cared at all.

"Hey Evans, just because you don't understand something–"

"Understand something! I don't need to under–"

"...Doesn't mean that it isn't legitimate, or at least sometimes anyway. Do you think Dumbledore would be okay with us learning about something so–"

"Well Dumbledore's okay with a lot of things Potter, that's no justification–"

"It doesn't matter, don't dismiss something just because it makes no sense to you!" Lily almost hexed him but controlled herself. He always had this effect on her– annoying her to bits. He always had to play the devil's advocate, it wasn't like he ever took any other class seriously and yet he had the nerve to preach to her about taking divination seriously!

She sat sulking for a moment, until she felt something poke her knee. She looked down and saw that Will had slipped her a Sugar Quill under the table and was smiling at her serenely. She immediately smiled back. Will always managed to find a way to cheer her up.

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"There you go, all done!" Lily put down the scissors and gave Will a mirror so that he could survey the work she'd done on his hair.

"So you won't complain that my hair's getting too long now?" he asked her.

"Oh come on, I only trimmed it! And it wasn't the length, it was how messy it was getting, and you know how I detest boys with messy hair." He gave her a significant look.

"Then you better get out of here or else you'll run into him!"

"Will! What would make you think I was talking about a specific person?" she laughed. He shrugged, waved briefly, and walked into the bathroom to wash his newly trimmed hair. She almost left, after all she was in the boy's dormitory (a place she wasn't really allowed in) but decided against leaving and instead spread herself out across Will's bed. She picked up the book on his night stand: Trials of a Crazy Goblin and began reading. She giggled, Will had such weird taste in books.

Suddenly the dormitory door flew open. Lily almost groaned out loud when she realized that it was the person she'd least wanted to see at the moment. None other than Potter himself. Even more surprising, he was alone. He stopped abruptly when he caught sight of her and stuffed something into his pocket as though he did not want her to see it. She just gazed nonchalantly at him, she'd decided that she wasn't going to let him get to her, otherwise he would win. At what, she didn't know, but what she did know was that seeing her get frustrated was a source of satisfaction for him.

"What're you doing in here? Get out," he said, walking towards her. To that, she simply reclined even further into Will's bed, smirking at him. He stopped and stared at her for a moment. She noticed his ears turned slightly pink, and all of a sudden he turned around and walked towards, what she assumed to be, his own bed. He turned back around as if to say something else to her then seemed to decide against it.

She realized how awkward the situation was. She had positioned herself on the bed in quite a provocative position and though she wasn't used to receiving attention from boys in any way that had to do with her body, she was beginning to understand this power girls had over boys. Even a stubborn ass like Potter couldn't form a coherent sentence all because she was taking advantage of the fact that she was a girl and lying on a bed in front of him. All of a sudden this new power she'd discovered didn't seem quite as good anymore as she realized that she was exploiting herself for it. She sat up in a hurry, feeling disgusted with herself.

Only then did Potter seem able to say something, and it wasn't really what she had expected, "Would you like a Chocolate Frog?" he said in a hurry, his voice cracked on the last syllable and he blushed a little.

"If it's not poisoned, then sure," she said trying to sound as though she hadn't noticed all the awkwardness before. Potter rushed towards a chest of drawers near his bed. He opened a drawer and a large amount of Chocolate Frogs came spilling out. "What the hell do you need all that chocolate for?" she asked not really expecting the nervous reaction she got.

"Nothing!" He said a little too hurriedly. She narrowed her eyes, she hadn't really been expecting an answer, assuming that teenage boys ate a lot anyway, but his reaction suggested something different.

"Are you sure they're not poisoned?"

"Yes, definitely. In fact, I'll have one too just to prove it to you!" He threw her one and took one himself. They each opened their chocolate and ate in silence until Lily commented that she'd gotten Dumbledore on her wizarding card.

"Yeah? Me too. He's my favorite, you know. I have about a hundred and twenty Dumbledores," he said as though looking for something to fill the silences with.

"That's a lot of chocolate," Lily commented, almost slapping herself after hearing how lame and obvious it sounded. She didn't know why this situation was so awkward. Usually they would yell at each other and get on with their lives, but she supposed this had to do with the fact that she'd introduced a whole different aspect to their relationship (quite unintentionally) relating to the fact that she was actually a girl.

Lily heard the shower go off in the bathroom and realized that Will would be out in a second.

"Thanks for the Chocolate Frog Potter, but I really have to go now." He seemed to snap out of the stupor he'd been in.

"Oh, okay. I- I guess I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, I guess." And with that she left the boy's dormitory. James watched as she crossed the room and disappeared through the door. He felt his stomach do a double flip and couldn't help but look back towards Will's bed and remember how she'd looked lying there. He shook the image out of his mind, feeling guilty. Though he thought she was very pretty, she wasn't like the other girls and he felt weird thinking of her as just a girl and not Lily, like he did with some girls. This was the first time he'd seen Lily act blatantly sexual and though it seemed like she hadn't meant it, it certainly made him look at her differently.

The door slammed open, shaking James out of his thoughts, and for a moment James was hopeful that Lily had returned, but it turned out to be Sirius. James sighed, whether in relief or disappointment, he wasn't sure.

"Was Lily Evans in here?" he asked immediately. James simply nodded. Sirius smiled wickedly. " I saw her coming down the steps.It was just the two of you in here wasn't it?" He raised his eyebrows at James suggestively.

James attempted to change the subject before Sirius got any more ideas. "She saw all the chocolate Sirius!"

"So what?"

"So, we need it for the patronuses we're producing. And if she figures that out, it'll only be a matter of time before she figures out why we would need to do patronuses, right?" James was extending this a lot further than he needed to, but he wanted to avoid Sirius' implications at all costs, for some reason they made him very uncomfortable.

"James, calm down! Evans is smart but she's not a mind reader. She can't infer all that from the fact that we have a lot of chocolate. We're teenage boys! We eat a lot, so what?"

"Fine, fine Sirius." James agreed hurriedly, sorry that he'd brought it up.

Lily remained on James' mind for the rest of the day, interrupting his worries about his sister, the transformations, and everything else. As he collapsed into bed that night, he couldn't help but call up the image of her on the bed, that had been played through his mind nearly a hundred times that day. As he began to push it away he stopped himself and decided that he'd worry about feeling guilty tomorrow but for now he would allow his mind to relive it as many times as it wanted.

A/N: Thank you for reading! Please don't forget to review! I'd really appreciate your comments.


	6. Chapter 6: An Unexpected Kiss

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter Six**

An Unexpected Kiss

"Hey Sirius!"

Sirius looked up from his bacon to see Camilla Malkin smiling down at him flirtatiously. _Oh no here we go again_ he thought.

"Hello Camilla," he replied, trying to ignore Remus' warning look. She slid on to the bench next to him pushing Peter aside without a glance. She began to play with his hair thoughtlessly.

"I was wondering, what's going on after the game today?" she said, still playing with his hair. He had the overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. It was always the same routine with her. The flirting, the giggling at even the stupidest of his jokes. Remus once pointed out that she even laughed at his pathetic "Sirius, serious" puns and, according to Remus, any girl who did this was definitely not worth it.

"Errr, I think the seventh years are having a party in the common room afterwards, regardless of whether we win or not. Knowing James though, I'd say we have it in the bag."

"James is so amazing," she said nodding her head. Sirius could see Remus choking on his orange juice behind her, trying to prevent himself from laughing. Sirius could practically read his mind: If she thought sucking up to him by praising James was going to work, she was sadly mistaken.

"Right."

"Mmmmmmmm, so what type of party will it be?" she continued, dragging the conversation on a lot longer than Sirius would have liked.

"You know, a party," he responded, shortly.

"Sirius," she said, running her hand down his arm, "I mean, will it be a, you know, a drinking party? Like, will the little ones have to go up early, or what?"

"Well, I did hear that Mundungus Fletcher was smuggling in quite a few bottles of Firewhiskey. So I suppose, yeah, it'll be a drinking party," he said, now getting up from his seat. In his opinion the conversation had gone on long enough. Of course it was going to be a drinking party, what else was new? He knew that she was just leading up to "Do you wanna hook up with me?" _She thinks she's so subtle but I can see right through her._ He wasn't going to make it that easy for her. After all, she did have a history of causing him trouble and he would never forget it.

"Oh, well in that case, I suppose it'll be really fun!" she said brightly. Sirius could see Remus banging his head against the table. Apparently Camilla's stupidity was too intolerable for Remus to stomach this early in the morning.

"Yeah, it'll be fun," he responded in monotone.

"Well, will I see you there?" she pressed.

"Most likely."

"OK, well be sure to save a dance for me" she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Sirius could barely suppress a groan. Barely anyone actually _danced_ at these parties. Only the _really_ drunk people.

"Er, yeah. Okay." He watched her walk away, relieved. There was no denying that she was absolutely gorgeous, with her shiny, dark hair and perfect curves. In fact, she was exactly the type of girl Sirius usually went for, but he'd done that already and refused to do it again.

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"What the fuck does she think she's doing?" Carrie whispered fiercely to Charlotte, Claire, and Artemis, accidently knocking over the pitcher of cream. It was just the 3 C's and Artemis at the moment and they were watching as the fourth C, Camilla, flirted with Sirius Black.

"It looks like she's hitting on him," Claire replied, dully. "What else is new?"

"She _knows_ that I've had my eye on him forever. Can't she lay off for a moment?"

"No. You know her, Carrie, she's obsessed with him. But don't worry. It looks like he can't stand the sight of her," Charlotte responded, sympathetically, evaporating the spilt cream with her wand. "I mean you remember what she did last year? It's unlikely that he's forgotten it that quickly."

"I don't care, he's mine!" Carrie whined, unreasonably.

The other girls exchanged looks. If there was anything that messed up the peace and quiet of their dormitory it was 1) Lily Evans (but she didn't count in this case), or 2) Fights over boys, especially if the boy was Sirius Black. Every girl in the dorm (minus Evans) admitted to having feelings for Sirius, but only Carrie and Camilla were actually determined to make something of those feelings. Unfortunately this always led to trouble.

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"Ugh. Do they have to do this at the end of every fucking game?" Lily commented, disgustedly as she watched the spectacle that was the Gryffindor common room after a quidditch game. Of course Gryffindor had won (with James Potter scoring 90 points alone). She and Will were sitting in the corner by the window, where they'd be out of the way.

Will poked Lily and pointed towards Michael. Lily watched as Michael snogged some curly haired fifth year. It wasn't an appealing sight. They both looked drunk out of their minds.

"How does he do that? " Will asked tentatively.

"Do what?"

"Get girls like _that_" he snapped his fingers to indicate his meaning.

Lily turned back to Mike. He had disentangled himself from the girl and was now looking as though he was going to be sick. Lily shook her head.

"I guess it has to do with confidence," she said, trying to sound knowledgeable, when she actually had no idea. It wasn't as though she had any experience with boys to draw upon.

"So if I stay the way I am, I'll never have a girlfriend in my entire life?"

"Oh come on Will, these are just mindless hook-ups. Don't judge yourself based on them! I'm sure any girl with a brain would love to be your girlfriend!" Lily tried to sound encouraging.

"Lily?"

"Yes, Will?"

"Please stop with the motherly advice. It's not working," he said.

"Fine. Take it or leave it. Let's go Will, this is getting sickening."

"Actually, I think I'd rather stay," he responded, weakly. Lily did a double take. Will never went against what she said, it was slightly shocking. But then she noticed the direction of his gaze. He was staring straight at Claire Meadowes, one of the dreaded C's. Lily groaned. Oh no. Why? Why?

"You realize you don't have a chance with her Will?" she said bluntly.

Will looked up suddenly, staring at her oddly. "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Lily." He then brushed past her and walked up the boy's staircase, leaving her in the madhouse alone (Michael didn't count as he was currently passed out on the couch).

Lily felt a moment of despair (Will NEVER walked out on her) then decided to take a walk far away from the Common room. She passed Camilla Malkin and Catherine Potter hissing at each other near the portrait hole. They didn't even spare her a glance or a mean remark (it must have been important!) And continued out past the portrait of the Fat Lady.

She strolled down the hall aimlessly, thinking about Will and his problem with girls. Maybe if he was a bit more forward– Her thoughts were interrupted suddenly as she ran head first into someone.

"Hey, watch– oh hi, Evans!" It was Sirius Black. Surprisingly he did not look drunk in the slightest (odd considering Sirius was one of the biggest party animals in Gryffindor).

"What are you doing here?" she asked, not really interested. It just gave her something to say before she promptly tried to ditch him. Black most certainly was not her favorite person in the school. Far from it.

"I could ask you the same thing," he countered. She nodded and began to edge away but apparently he wanted to talk since he continued, "Mainly just avoiding crazy girls."

"Yeah? That's nice," she said.

"Yeah. You know me, girls just love me," he continued, not really looking at her. In fact, it looked as though he were just speaking his thoughts aloud. Maybe he _was_ drunk. Lily was close to dismissing him and his ego trip and leaving when she suddenly became curious.

"Black, what do you think it is about you that makes girls so crazy about you?" she asked, hoping that his over-large ego would overpower him from asking her any questions about her inquiry. He did stare at her a moment as though he was not sure what to make of her.

"I dunno. I guess they like the way I look and stuff," he said uncertainly as though he'd never considered this.

"It's gotta be more than your looks, Black. There are plenty of handsome boys in this school and they don't get one tenth of the attention you get," she pressed.

"Er... To be honest I really don't know," he said. Then, as though he'd realized something he pointed out, "Well, you're the girl here, Evans. You should be telling me!"

"I guess I could, _if I liked you!_" she snapped.

"Aww, I'm heartbroken. Evans doesn't like me. Let me ask you a question, do you like _anyone_? Honestly, you're such a bitch sometimes! No wonder no one ever asks you out! You're a frigid prude."

For some reason this comment affected Lily more than she would have cared to admit. So this was how he saw her? In fact, this was probably how they all saw her: a heartless, inexperienced, bitch. It was true that Lily was inexperienced (Lily owed this to the fact that she was a bit behind in terms of puberty) but she certainly was not heartless. Perhaps Sirius saw some of this anxiety on her face because he softened slightly.

"Listen Evans..."

"Well Black, if my inexperience is bothering you so much, why don't you remedy it?" After she said it, she wished desperately that she could take the words back, but unfortunately she couldn't. She had challenged him and now she'd have to deal with it.

"Huh?"

"Go on, you can be my 'first kiss,' Black." Now that Lily had started this stupid thing, she had to follow through with it or else she would be the one left looking like an idiot, not Black, who rightfully deserved the title

"Erm..." he was hesitating. He honestly did not look like he wanted to. Lily almost kicked herself. What made her so sure that he would jump at the offer? Apparently the idea disturbed him and, if anything, this made her feel worse. Now she knew how Will felt; the feeling that no one could possibly be interested in you as dating/snogging material. Lily almost turned away and fled but she reminded herself that she was put into Gryffindor for a reason.

"Oh, scared are we?" she began. She would get him to kiss her if it was the last thing she did. There was no way she was leaving this humiliated at the hands of Sirius Black. "I thought you had such a reputation with girls, huh? Well clearly reputations are overrated since you're standing here like a frightened little–"

She was cut off as he suddenly leaned in and put his lips on hers. It was odd, being kissed by Sirius Black. She was waiting for fireworks or something to go off in the background (wasn't that how kisses were supposed to go?) But really it consisted of nothing more than him slobbering on her and her waiting for it to be over and done with. The second he started edging his tongue into her mouth she pushed him away.

They stared at each other for a moment. "That wasn't what I expected. I guess kissing really is overrated," she said, quite honestly.

He snorted. "Spoken like a true frigid bitch,"

"Shut up, Black! Just because I don't like you, doesn't mean I'm a frigid bitch. Honestly, get over yourself!" She couldn't stop herself. All the resentment that she had built up against him was just tumbling out now. "You're one of the most shallow people I've ever met! You only snog girls because they have huge boobs and pretty faces and nothing else matters to you, does it?"

"Uhhh... Evans you do realize that I just snogged _you_ and you certainly do not fit the criteria–" She slapped him and stormed off.

Sirius might have found the incident amusing. In fact he might have actually enjoyed it if it weren't for a certain friend of his that was secretly obsessed with Evans that would be incredibly upset if he heard about this. He groaned. He did not want to confess _this_ to James.

**A/N: Thank you for reading. Now for a couple of explanations.**

**Sorry for the lateness in updating. I've been having a hectic life lately.**

**I knocked this story up to an "M" rating just to be safe, what with all the craziness that is going on with this site about stories being reported and whatnot. It also gives me some more freedom in terms of what I decide to include in (not that anything is going to get more graphic, etc. It just gives me more wiggle room).**

**Also, I'd like to thank my reviewers who have been so incredibly nice:**

**Alex Sakura: **Thank you for your great advice. I really appreciate it. I would also love it if you continued with Princess TomatoApple! I think it's worth continuing.

**Names are Overrated:** Again, my first reviewer ever! I also appreciate your insightful advice. Thank you.

**lena456**: You'll see Lily and James' relationship fluctuate (they won't get together just yet though!)

**akagenius04**: Thanks for the review! I'm glad you enjoyed the non-cliches I'm using. I tried to avoid Lily with the girlfriends this time because I thought that was one of the biggest areas where I could be in danger of cliches, though I know what you mean. There are a lot of stories where I LOVE her girlfriends.

**:(RaRa):** Thank you for all of those reviews! That was really nice of you to spend so much time reviewing every chapter! Yes, James' voice is still developing. I'm glad you thought the voice crack was cute (so did I). You thought the bed thing was sexy? Well you ain't seen nothing yet! (Just kidding).

**Paprikan**: Thank you for reviewing my story! That was really thoughtful of you especially since you actually went out of your way to use examples from the story to show me what you meant. Very helpful for me as an author. I really hope you update **Dancing on a Flame of Fate** soon by the way. God, I love that story. Thanks again!


	7. Chapter 7: Confessions and Memories

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

**Chapter Seven**

Confessions and Memories

James stared at the floor, not knowing what to say.

"Er... James are you mad?" James looked up at Sirius' weary face.

"Why would I be mad, Sirius?" he asked, trying to sound nonchalant, as though the news that his best friend had just snogged the girl that he... well he wasn't sure how he felt about her now.

"Well... didn't you kinda have a "thing" for her? I mean you stare at her an awful lot--"

"I _don't_ like her, okay? She's pretty, alright, but I don't _like _her!" James said vehemently.

"Okay, okay, James," Sirius said, raising his hands up in defeat.

"Was there tongue?" Peter asked eagerly, seemingly unaware of the tension in the room. James glared at him. _Merlin, he could be so thick at times_. Sirius laughed shakily and glanced at James again.

"If it makes you fee– well, the thing is, she didn't really kiss me back." Sirius said hurriedly.

"She didn't?" James responded automatically, then almost kicked himself for sounding so hopeful and pathetic.

Sirius seemed to take heart in James' response and continued. "Yeah, I mean she was just so cold! It was like she didn't even feel anything. I was trying to spice it up a bit, you know? Like, if you're gonna kiss a girl you might as well do it right. So, yeah, I tried tongue, and the second I did, she pushed me away."

"She pushed you away?" James sounded surprised.

"Yeah. She basically told me she didn't like it. She looked dead disappointed."

James couldn't help it, but the idea that Lily didn't enjoy kissing Sirius made him feel much better. He didn't know who he was kidding, though. If Lily didn't like kissing Sirius, champion lady's man, then what was to say she would ever enjoy kissing him, when he'd barely had any experience at all with girls? And why was he thinking about kissing Lily as though it were an option?

"So men, about the patronuses, how are we progressing?" Sirius changed the subject.

000000000000

The first words James had ever spoken to Lily were "_Well, you're not an animal_!"

They had met when they were six, quite by accident. It was actually an extreme coincidence or, if you believed in that kind of thing, you could have called it fate.

It was an odd story really, not one they shared with others. Probably the only other person who knew about it was Carrie (having been there for some of it).

James and Carrie had been with their mother, Rhia Potter, visiting her favorite place in the world: Ynes Mon, known to most people as the Isle of Anglesey. It was a little area in the North of Wales and it housed a community of witches and wizards that practiced the "old magic." Rhia Potter herself was a practitioner of the old magic and brought her children there frequently to enjoy magic at it's purest and most basic form.

At the time, James' father, Charles Potter, had been the Minister of Magic and thoroughly disapproved of these treks to Ynes Mon. Most modern wizards looked down on the "old magic" as primitive, though they did give a certain respect to those who practiced it. This was a cause for many fights in the Potter household during James' childhood, Mr. Potter's insistence that it was inappropriate for the Minister of Magic's family to be seen frequenting "places like that." But regardless of his objections Rhia Potter took her children there on a regular basis.

There was a small wooded area at the edge of Ynes Mon that James and Carrie would play in. Rhia Potter always made sure to warn her children not to go too far into the woods. Supposedly there was a small muggle town near the end of it and, as children, both James and Carrie harbored a fear of muggles.

One day, near James' seventh birthday, he had been playing in these very woods when he heard a strange sound nearby. Normally he would have had Carrie by his side but that day she hadn't felt well so he was left to play alone.

His mother had warned him to walk away slowly if he heard strange noises in the woods but, on this occasion, James was far too scared to walk away, so instead he did the entire opposite and leapt head-first into the bush where he'd heard the sound, tackling the "animal."

Imagine his surprise when he opened his eyes to find that, instead of an animal, he'd tackled a little girl with bright green eyes. He scrambled off of her and went on to proclaim the stupidest sentence in history: "Well, you're not an animal!" The green eyes blinked. She was in the process of getting up off the forest floor as well.

She stood up straight and stared at him, puzzled. Then, speaking in a way that only a six-year old know-it-all could have, she responded to his stupid proclamation.

"Well actually, we _are_ animals. You see we're mammals and mammals are types of animals so, you're wrong, I am an animal."

James' jaw dropped. He knew no one his age that could come back at him like that. Most kids accepted his word as law, due to his unusual intelligence, but this girl seemed to be able to hold her own. He continued to stare at her stupidly like this as she brushed leaves off of her skirt. He suddenly noticed the state of her clothes. She was wearing a skirt and blouse that looked expensive but as if she had rolled around in the forest with them. Her striking red hair had leaves in it and her shoes looked as though she'd walked miles and miles in them.

She had probably noticed him staring because she went on to say, "I've been lost."

"Oh" was all James could think to say. He was still entranced by her. Despite her disheveled appearance, she exuded a sense of gracefulness that captivated James. The sunlight was flickering through her hair and her green eyes seemed to stand out more than ever. She was still staring at him oddly, as though sizing him up and determining how big a threat he posed to her.

"Would you be able to tell me where I am?" she asked, businesslike, as though she were asking about the weather or something similar. He gaped.

"Erm, you're in Wales," James answered lamely.

"Well, I know _that_," she said, frowning at him. "I was wondering what town this was." It suddenly struck James that perhaps this girl was a muggle and had no idea that she'd stumbled into a wizarding sanctuary.

The thought that she was a muggle, instead of scaring James (since he _was_ afraid of muggles after all) made James feel more secure. This was _his_ territiory and therefore he had the upper hand here and knew more than this precocious red-head girl did.

"Well, the people here call it Ynes Mon," he began.

"Ynes Mon?" she repeated, sounding as though she was processing this information.

"Yes."

"I've never heard of it before," she said, sounding concerned.

"Well most people haven't. You see only wiz--" he stopped abruptly. She looked up at him sharply.

"Yes?"

"Err, maybe we should find my mother. She could help you get back wherever you came from," he said, thinking quick. She still eyed him suspiciously but began following him.

"So, where'd you come from?" he asked her, trying to change the subject until they reached his mother.

"My grandmother's house," she replied slowly, as if still unsure whether to trust him or not. "She lives right on the edge of the town, near the forest, and sometimes I go out to play, and, well I got lost this time."

"You live with your grandmother?" he asked, curious.

"Not usually. My parents sometimes dump me there when they go traveling. My dad has a very busy job and he has to travel to a lot of different places and my mother loves to follow him wherever he goes. Sometimes I go with them and other times I stay with relatives. My sister goes to a boarding school in England, so she doesn't have to worry about moving, but I do." She blurted this all out in one breath. James noticed the bitterness in her voice and felt bad for her. The few times his dad had to leave them for business trips he'd also felt sad.

"What kind of places have you been to?" At this she brightened up.

"Whenever they let me come, I always have a lot of fun because I love to see new things! I've been to Japan, I've been to Italy, I've been to France, but only because my other grandmother lives there. She's the mean one. I like this one much better." She stopped and a worried look came over her face. "Do you think I could call her when we get into Ynes Mon? I think she'll be very worried, and I just want to let her know I'm okay." She turned to him.

He was confused. He had no idea what she meant by "call" so he shrugged and said, "We'll see."

She nodded and continued walking. Then suddenly something seemed to occur to her and she stopped. James stopped as well. "I never asked you who you were," she exclaimed, looking at him expectantly.

"Oh, my name is James Potter," he said, suddenly feeling a bit shy. He held out his hand, as he was taught to do at introductions. She looked at his hand for a moment, then held out her own hand and shook his firmly. Then, almost unexpectedly, she smiled. James was, yet again, taken aback by her. She had one of the most beautiful smiles he'd ever seen. It lit up her whole face.

"Pleased to meet you, James Potter. My name is Lily Evans."

They smiled at each other.

**A/N: Thank you to all my reviewers.**

**Quick note to Miss Myrtle360:** Your review had me laughing so much. You seriously thought everyone was horny? I went back and readmy entire fic and I really can see it now. It's funny how you can write something, not really meaning it a certain way, and people interpret it differently.I guess some of them are horny. Among the girls, they're not really horny so much as competitive in order to get Sirius to go out with them. Carrie acts horny to rebel against James but she has yet to really understand sex. The boys (excluding Sirius of course) are quite inexperienced. Just ask James or Will. James is horny but he won't admit it to himself. I don't know. Interpret things the way you want. I'll only clarify things for you. But anyway, thanks for the review! It really made me laugh. And, yeah, Lily is mean. She's developing as a person.

**Review! It makes me update quicker...**


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